Awakening of a Monster
by Anderson519
Summary: Follow the story of Takumi Fujiwara and his Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX, as he rose from a nobody to one of the most famous and feared drivers of the touge racing scene of Japan. (Novelisation of Initial D Stage 1 to 5)
1. Prologue

Prologue

Shibukawa, Gunma, 1994

"I am ooof," said a thirteen year old boy whose birthday was near and went by the name of Fujiwara Takumi. Clad in his school uniform, he was ready to go to school on a bright sunny day in the month of February.

"Okay, got it." said his father Bunta in a monotonous voice, who was as usual at his job of running the tofu shop. Your usual taciturn father and son duo. Takumi put on his shoes and went off to school, closing the door gently behind him. The school was a five minute walk away.

While walking silently to his school, he would pass by a vegetable shop which was owned by a childhood friend of his father who happened to be his classmate till high school. Till Bunta stopped learning and went on to pursue his dream of being one of the fastest professional drivers ever produced by Japan.

"Oh, Taku-chan," she said. "Are you going to school?"

"Er..yeah" said Takumi, avoiding to look into her eyes as if he had met her at that very moment. And he went on walking.

'_He is a child who always talks avoiding looking into your eyes… He's cute as he's shy…..Just like his mother….' _She thought and started sweeping her shop and prepping it up for that day's business.

This was roughly five years before Project D started its undefeated streak all over Saitama, Kanagawa, Ibaraki and Tochigi, Takumi's second year at middle school.

"HEY! TAKUMII!"

Takumi looked at the direction the voice was coming from. It was one of his few close friends, Takeuchi Itsuki. He had become Takumi's friend and classmate during the first year, but started talking to him outta nowhere since the second year started. He was cheerful, loud and obnoxious, something that was a far cry from Takumi's personality. Yet they used to get on well with each other.

"Oh… it's you," Takumi said in a low voice seeing his pal join him on the way.

"Today we will be quizzed in English, you know that? How depressing! It is one of my weak points, man," said Itsuki, thus starting his daily rant on what was going to happen in school that day.

"Oh, by the way, you know Iketani-san? That senpai who lives in my neighbourhood?"

"Yeah," Takumi replied.

'_Ah, that car nut who's always blabbering about some car he calls a Silvia,' _he thought.

"So, what about him?"

"He told me that he will attend a training institute, this summer and get a driving license," Itsuki replied. "Cool, huh? Being a high-schooler, getting a driving license and going everywhere he wants…. He is an adult now!"

"A driving license huh….. from what age can you get one?"

"Eighteen," Itsuki answered back, wondering how his friend couldn't know such small things.

'_That means… I can't drive before another five years pass by… Driving without a license is so wrong; he's turning his own son into a petty criminal…'_

"By the way, Takumi, when is your birthday?" Itsuki asked, snapping Takumi out his thoughts.

"It is this month…pretty soon," came the stoic reply. Itsuki wanted to ask more, but as time was running out, the duo rushed to school.

Hours passed quite fast for them, and before they knew it was break time.

"You know, Takumi…" Itsuki started, standing on the school's terrace which was their favorite hangout place there.

"I dunno," he said. "I don't have a mum at home and dad runs a tofu shop. For us, there is no bon shogatsu or Christmas. The truth is that we are quite poor."

"Duh. If things are like that and I didn't get presents on my b-day, I would rather turn into a delinquent.."

"Then, I should have been one since six by your logic," Takumi shot back.

"Since you have nothing to lose, why don't you tell him that? Children are supposed to be a bond between their parents, Takumi.." Itsuki replied

"Eh?" Takumi said with raised eyebrows. '_I don't get what he's supposed to mean by that…'_

That day, Takumi went home earlier than he usually did.

"Tadaima!" he said as he closed the door. "Hmmm, dad…"

"Wait a sec," his father interrupted. "I am on the phone right now…" The person on the other side picked it up.

"Yes, Fujiwara Tofu Store speaking . I am sorry but can you collect the money for today's due bills next week? "He said.

'_Oh, great. Why today of all days!?' _ Takumi thought sadly.

"Business has been bad lately, yeah.." Bunta continued. "I am really sorry, but I can make it somehow if you give me one more week," The man agreed, and Bunta kept down the receiver.

'_I work and work and work….and I stare at my hands….' _Bunta thought, remembering one of Ishikawa Tabukoku's poems. "Well, you were asking me something right?" he said, turning his attention towards his son, startling Takumi in the process.

"Um…well… Let's see what was it again, er… I forgot…" Takumi mumbled giving out an artificial chuckle. He understood that it was not the best time to ask him about gifts. He went into his room upstairs, changed clothes and had a quick snack.

He then came downstairs, put on his shoes to go for a walk around the neighborhood. As walked towards the temple he stared at his father's AE86 parked in the small space beside his home. Takumi remembered the day his dad had sold off his grandfather's Isuzu Bellett, only due to a lack of space. Though he begged his dad not to sell it as he loved fiddling with its mirrors, holding its steering wheel, and playing around it all day, Bunta had replied that he would be getting a new car and the Bellett's trunk was small to accommodate more tofu due to increased demand.

"Bah.." he said and went on to the temple.

"It's fine, as if I gave a toss 'bout it anyway…"he thought to reconcile with himself while he stared at the steps leading to the temple.

"It is not dad's fault that I am not getting any gifts," he went on, "It is all due to poverty,"

"For example, there are many 13 year olds in Africa who can't get two square meals a day. They don't have both parents, a cozy home to sleep at night. When they grow up, they don't have jobs so no work. It is a continent full of children without any dreams and hopes... and yakuniku. I can laugh out loud compared to them…. Being poor is fun!" he concluded.

The next morning, as usual since 1993, Takumi went on his tofu delivery runs to Mt. Akina's summit. He used to hate the drive uphill, as he could not go beyond 130 km/h without damaging the tofu and spilling the water. This meant going slower than he could, reducing his sleeping time and Takumi loved dozing. Once he unloaded the tofu, he sped down the main straightaway leading to a medium right.

"Couldn't this car go any faster?" he said impatiently. The warning bell came on as he was inching towards the right hander. He then downshifted to fourth gear, and flicked the car in as fast and as near as he could towards the small gutter at the inside, one of his favorite pastimes. But by now even that wasn't as fun as it was a month ago.

"This is so boooring…." he muttered as he exited the corner at 125 km/h.

The rest of the downhill run passed with Takumi wishing for more speed out of the car every time he hit the straights and exited corners. In a time of 3 and half minutes, he had reached the base and reached his home in another minute. He found his father waiting at the door step. He then parked it in its spot and came out without closing the door.

"This boy…" he muttered as he took out the paper cup and closed the door. And as was his routine ever since Takumi started delivering tofu, he bent down to check the tire wear on the front tires.

'_He needs to learn a lot on distributing the weight equally on all the tires, he's still too rough on them when he enters the corners….'_ He thought. '_He must cut down on the corner entry speeds. Nevertheless, his progress within a year is quite amazing. His natural aptitude for racing is scary…'_

"Takumi, control is more important than speed. If you drive at this rate, the tires will not last for long…" he advised his son.

'_That stuff is so boring..' _Takumi thought. "I do not care. The only thing I care about is returning home as early as possible," he said while he smelled something familiar.

'_Oh, it is sake,' _He thought.

"Hey dad, did you go drinking last night?"

"Yeah, I did. So?" Bunta answered, astonishing Takumi.

"What? That is so weird! You even postponed the bill payments; so irresponsible of you! If you got the m-money to d-drink, then how about using it to pay your bills on time!?"

"You stuttered on the important words," Bunta pointed out while chuckling softly, which made Takumi lose his cool.

"Jeez, this does it! I will not help with the deliveries from now on! This is not Africa, it is Gunma in Japan!" he shouted.

"Okay…" Bunta thought amusedly.

"I will be a delinquent from now on!" Takumi declared as he made his way to the front door. In all his fiery rage he couldn't remember that he had to turn at the corner and wham, he crashed into the wall.

At the school, he and Itsuki once again went to the terrace for a little talk on how one becomes a delinquent. He narrated everything to his pal and sighed.

"….and so, I will become a delinquent. Honestly, I don't know what I should do…maybe I could drink sake or smoke a pack of cigarettes, but they cost money and I can't even hang out at an arcade playing Tekken and all those things. Isn't being poor and a delinquent at the same time a bit too difficult? Anyway, what do you think I should do?" he asked.

"How about robbing a convenience store?" Itsuki suggested and all he got was a punch in the face as a reward. Takumi was starting to behave like a delinquent already.

"Idiot! Isn't that a crime?" he retorted. "But that is the sort of things a delinquent does!" Itsuki shot back. That flashed an idea in Takumi's mind.

"I have got a good hint. I will put it into practice as soon as I reach home!" he exclaimed. And that is how Operation: Delinquent began. That day, Takumi sprinted towards home at such a speed that even Usain Bolt would be amazed.

"Great, dad's not at home. And the car's here too!" he exclaimed excitedly. He started fantasizing about the aftermath…..

"Fujiwara Bunta, am I correct?" asked a police officer who was clad in a suit and wore dark glasses. "You can figure who I am from this," he said and showed his badge, and explained what had happened.

"Eh! He was arrested for driving without a license!?" Bunta exclaimed worriedly.

"That's right," the cop confirmed. "As a father, you have shied away from your responsibility. I want you to come to the police station as a suspect," he said, which made Bunta fall down on his knees and hold his head due to guilt. The cop made him stand up and patted him once on his shoulder.

"I have heard it all. You haven't celebrated his birthday and made him work like a donkey delivering tofu early in the morning. Being at a loss, he was likely to commit an offense. Moreover, you are a drunkard and you don't do your job properly," he commented, making Bunta frown with sadness.

And then in the lock up, he started lamenting: "Forgive me son, it looks like I was wrong….."

Takumi chuckled at the very thought of it. And off he went with the car.

He tried hard to make the cops notice that a middle school kid was driving a car. But unfortunately, he failed at it and the 86 returned home safely. Heartbroken, he rested his forehead on the steering wheel softly.

"Though I ran circles around the train station wearing my uniform like this, the cops didn't give a damn about me," he lamented. "It is because it is the sticks here, I cannot even become a delinquent here…" he muttered sadly. But then again, you can't blame the cops either. Takumi was just too good behind the wheel for a middle school student.

The next day, Takumi and Itsuki decided to talk about it again while strolling through the corridor.

"Isn't it your birthday today, Takumi?" Itsuki asked. Takumi just nodded.

"How about running away from home?" he suggested. The latter raised his eyebrows at the mention.

"I mean, you can spend the day outside your home as it your b-day without telling anybody," Itsuki continued. "It will make your pop worry about you."

"It can work," Takumi agreed. "But I don't have a place to stay for the night."

"How about mine, pal?" Itsuki asked, making his friend jump with joy.

Then, after school ended for the day, Takumi went with Itsuki to his place. His place was much bigger and more luxurious than the Fujiwaras'.

"I'm home!" Itsuki said, while he removed his shoes and kept them neatly in the rack beside. His mum came to take his school bag. Takumi, not knowing what to say then as he rarely visited others' homes, mumbled:

"Sorry for disturbing you…"

"It is fine," Sakura Takeuchi said, giving him a kind smile. "So, you could have told me earlier that Takumi-kun was coming to our home earlier, you know," she told her son.

"Since he will be staying for the night, prepare some good dinner," he said and the duo proceeded to the latter's room. Till dinner time, they read some comic books and did their homework.

"Dinner's ready, Itsuki! Come down!" his mum called. They then proceeded to the Takeuchi's kitchen -cum- dining room. Takumi was surprised at the variety of dishes, something which he rarely saw at his place.

"Amazing! What a feast! It is almost like a reception," Takumi said, making his friend look at him with disbelief.

"This is pretty much normal for us," he said. They sat down and joined Hitoshi Takeuchi for dinner, who was drinking some beer.

"There are a lot of dishes," he said. "So, eat to your heart's content, Takumi-kun."

"Oyaji, give me and Takumi some of that too!" Itsuki said, pointing at the bottle of beer.

"Eh!? No, I am fine as it is!" Takumi said, looking shocked at the very thought of drinking beer.

"I thought you wanted to be a delinquent," Itsuki whispered in his ear. Takumi nodded and took a sip. It was quite bitter in taste, but he still managed to finish the glass he had been given.

Time passed on, as they laughed and made merry. While he was dining with the Takeuchis, Takumi started telling what the daily routine at his place was.

"And then?" Itsuki asked his pal.

"It is not that terrible," Takumi said. "He makes me do the tofu deliveries since early in the morning," he continued. While he was inebriated, he still kept his brains about him and didn't tell that he drove a car and drifted with it both up and down the hill at speeds above 100 km/h.

"Ah, what a good boy you are!" Sakura praised him. "Helping at home and all. You are a lot different than our Itsuki."

"No, it is not like that at all," Takumi said, making his pal think that he was quite weird.

"There is no love or a bond between us," he continued. "My face does not resemble my dad's at all. I think I must have been adopted," he said.

Sakura chuckled. "You are very funny, Takumi-kun. Make sure you give a call to your father. He must be worried."

"Nah, he won't be," Takumi assured her. "He's probably drinking some sake somewhere right now. That's because he's an idiot!" he laughed silly. But his heart was not in agreement and it caused a sharp pain in his chest.

'_I wonder what that is….I can feel it in my chest….' _ He thought. But he soon forgot about it and went to sleep alongside his friend in his room. Sakura finally called Bunta and he came to pick him up by five in the morning.

"Gomen'nasai. He must have caused you quite a bit of trouble…" Bunta apologized.

"No, not at all, Please come in…" she said and led him to Itsuki's room. Bunta found his son sleeping peacefully beside him. He then knelt down and gently patted his shoulder.

"Takumi…. Wake up," he said in a low voice. Takumi opened his eyes and saw his dad; he was quite surprised to see him there.

"Dad?"

"Not now," he said. "Pick up your school bag and gakuran. Let's go."

By 10 minutes, Takumi took his belongings and sat in the car and before he knew it, the AE86 was cruising up the three lane road at Akina's base. Takumi was starting to prepare for a scolding, but none of it happened.

"Listen, Takumi…" Bunta started.

"Spending the night away from home is fine, but at least give me a phone call. I was quite worried," he said. Yesterday was your birthday, and I was waiting for you to come home."

"You didn't forget, dad?" an astonished Takumi asked.

"Of course I didn't!" Bunta said with his eyes wide opened and looking at Takumi, which was a pretty rare moment. "How can I forget the birthday of my only son?" he asked, bewildered seeing his son thinking like that. "I've left you a gift and a cake on the dining table, eat it and go to school," he said and returned his vision to the road.

It brought tears to Takumi's eyes.

"Sorry dad, I got carried away and spoke ill of you a lot," he apologized as they passed by the skating center's entrance. The rest of the journey to the summit went quiet and within 3 minutes, they were coming down the straight.

'_Even if I explain to him in words, he will not get it. He's the type who learns how to conduct a car by feeling it with his body. Showing it once to someone like him, he will understand the difference between the way how I drive and he drives,' _Bunta thought and stepped on the throttle and drifted through the first left corner in a perfect demonstration of a braking drift.

That was the very first time Takumi experienced a full throttle downhill sprint. It would have scared anybody in Bunta's driving seat, but not him. He had faith on his father and was confident that no matter what the speed and the lateral G's were, he would never ever lose control. Never.

'_Amazing…. This is the first time I am seeing him like this…like a diamond glittering in the dark…' _he thought as he braced himself for the upcoming corner.

A few hours later, Takumi was going to school, happier than ever.

"Good morning, Yumi-san," he greeted his father's school mate; not looking into her eyes as he passed by the vegetable store. She just smiled back.

'_Oh my, he smiled,' _she thought once he couldn't be seen any longer. _'Something good must have happened to him.'_

'_Even though, he's still cute…' _She added as an afterthought.

_**Ryosuke explains...**_

Now, not all of us are knowledgeable about drifting techniques and mechanics, right? So we have our in - house genius Ryosuke Takahashi to explain it to us right here.

A: We are so happy to have you here, Ryosuke.

R: Whatever.

A: You must be feeling great after leading Project D through a series of wins.

R: Whatever.

A: Is that your catch phrase?

R: No. It is just that I have a test tomorrow.

A: Anyhoo, let's cut to the chase then. What is a braking drift?

R: It is an highly advanced technique that takes years to master. For a braking drift you're essentially keeping the front tires on the hairy edge of their traction limit and making the rears exceed theirs, thus making the rear slide out. The braking drift can be a very fast way to slide out a car that has initial oversteer on turn-in and understeer on sustained cornering. Setting up a car this way is easily done by reducing the effect of the frontal sway bar and lowering the dampening effect of the front shocks.

A: What is this 'AE86' thingy?

R: It is the chassis code of the Toyota Sprinter Trueno and the Corolla Levin (a.k.a Toyota Corolla GT-S in the west), the fifth generation of the Toyota Corolla lineup. Other cars too have their chassis codes, like the third generation Nissan Skyline GT-R called as the R32 or a BNR32. My car a second gen. RX-7 is called a FC.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: As with all fan fictions, I do not own the characters or the cars they drive. All of them belong to their respective copyright holders. This applies to all chapters of this fan fiction.

Italics within single quotes mean it is a thought. An italic word within a double quote means the speaker is putting stress on that word when he/she is speaking. Bold words indicate that their meanings will be given in the 'Ryosuke explains…' section at the end. Got it? Good.

Here we go, then.

Chapter 1

Shibukawa, Gunma, 1999

"1.3 million Yen for a model from 1991….. I like the color but uh... It is way too expensive. I will give up on a S13 and look for AE86. No matter what, I want a **RWD** car…" Itsuki told Takumi as he flipped through the pages of a car magazine used car ads section. It was break time for the students of Shibukawa High School, and they were hanging out at the terrace, their favorite hangout at the school.

"Hey Takumi, you listening?" Itsuki asked him, as he was looking at the sky daydreaming.

"Yes, I am! So how much does this 'Hachiroku' thing cost?" Takumi asked back, thinking it was an odd name for a car.

"Let me see," Itsuki looked at a few ads. "They start at about 300,000 Yen. That is excluding insurance though… and I have just a bit over 50K Yen…."

"So, you have a long way to go…" Takumi concluded.

"Isn't there some sort of 'earn money quick' scheme? Even if we work hard all summer at the gas station, I will be lucky if I save another 120K…." he complained. Just then someone softly patted their shoulders, startling both of them.

"So, you guys work part-time huh, Takumi-kun and company?" Their classmate, Natsuki Mogi asked them. She had overheard their conversation all along. All she got in reply was a stare from Takumi.

"What? Don't go all quiet on me! Is it that odd for me to talk to you?" She replied back. "You get around 120K Yen for a month's work? How many days a week do you work then?"

"Full work, five to six days per week," Itsuki answered.

"EH!? You work that much!?" she exclaimed, making Takumi glare at her again. "All that work and just 120K Yen!?"

"Just? Well, that is quite normal…" Takumi said.

"Part time work for high school students like us doesn't pay much," Itsuki added.

"I didn't know… I've never had one," she said. "Well, best of luck then. Maybe we could all go out somewhere once the finals are over?" She asked as she started to go back to their class.

"It has been a year since I had a chat with her," Takumi commented once she had gone away.

"Is it true?" His pal asked.

"Yeah. Since we were in the same club, we talked a lot till the second year summer." Takumi continued. "But then she hated and avoided me because of some things…"

"Will I get to know what exactly had happened then?"

"I didn't assault her or anything; there was a one year older sempai in the soccer club who was her boyfriend. And then I beat the crap out of him in the club room," he answered. "After that, I left the soccer club, but she stuck on as its manager. Even when we met each other in the hall or happened to pass by, she ignored me…"

"No shit, you punched her boyfriend after all," Itsuki commented. "Anyhow, it is impressive that you beat a sempai up in a sports club. Why did you do that?"

"I won't tell. I just don't like that guy…" came the reply.

"You are pretty weird, you know. Normally, you just stare into space looking as if you didn't sleep last night. But you become fully different once you lose your cool."

"Remember those kids in elementary, who become strong when they become mad after crying?" Takumi asked. "I was like them." Soon, the break was over and the duo went to their class. The school ended for the day in another 3 hours.

"Stop reading that in the middle of the street, Itsuki!" Takumi advised his pal, who was busy flipping through the pages of that auto magazine. "You look stupid, you know?"

"How about pooling our money and buy an 86 together?" Itsuki asked, ignoring his suggestion. "We could get a loan for it if we pool our money together."

"Um… No." was the reply. "Why are you so desperate? Your family has a car, right? Why not use that instead?"

"You mean my dad's car? No way! It is a diesel, automatic and an **FF**!" Itsuki shot back. "That is a piece of shit! It is not even a car!"

"I thought a thing is a car as long as it has four wheels and runs in straight and curved lines," Takumi said.

"You do not get it, don't you? What is the point of a car if you can't have fun with it at the touge?" Itsuki asked, hoping it would give his pal a hint.

"So why do you go to the touge?" Takumi asked, once again failing to get the point.

"To attack the corners! That is obvious!" Itsuki replied. Takumi just looked at him with a bored face.

"That is fun?" Takumi asked again. "Doing that?" It made Itsuki look at him disbelievingly.

"HUUUH!?" Itsuki replied. "I just do not get you some times. Of course it is fun!" he said. "You call yourself a man and never thought of attacking the mountain passes?"

"I am tired of it already," came the reply, leaving Itsuki stunned.

"What do you mean by that?" Itsuki asked. '_We took our driving licenses just a month ago, didn't we?'_ But this time though, Takumi kept mum and continued walking down the road which passed by the local arcade.

"Oh, I mean that let us play a bit before we go to work! How about playing Sega Rally?" Itsuki suggested. "And yeah, a game and a real car are fully different, you know?" He told Takumi as they went into the arcade.

In the meantime, Natsuki was waiting at the next junction waiting for somebody. And just as she saw an old Mercedes Benz S-Class come by, she waved her hand and signaled it to stop. A middle aged man unlocked the door for her and she got in.

"You are cute, Natsuki. As always whenever you are in your uniform," the man commented.

"Really, thank you, Papa," she said while fastening her seatbelt. And the car slowly took off and turned left at the junction exhibiting quite a bit of **body roll**. It was typical of cars coming from Stuttgart.

"Say, Papa, a boy Natsuki knows told me he's working part time all summer and all he gets is 120K Yen." Natsuki started while referring to herself in the first person.

"That sounds normal," Papa commented, telling her the same thing Takumi and Itsuki had said earlier.

"Is it really tough to earn money, isn't it Papa?" Natsuki asked. "Natsuki gets 300K Yen just by going to the hotel with Papa three times per month. Is it okay to be getting that much?"

"It _is_," he assured her while shifting the gears. "You're more than worth it, Natsuki."

"Really?" Natsuki asked, sounding surprised. "Natsuki just doesn't get it….." she muttered as the car cruised down the expressway leading to Maebashi.

At the gas station…

"Arigato gosaimazu!" said Koichiro Iketani, once he was done filling a customer's fuel tank. Takumi and Itsuki were talking by the pump providing unleaded petrol.

"Hey Takumi, about what we were talking about earlier," Itsuki told his friend while leaning on the pump's display, "Let's buy an 86!"

"So, you guys are aiming to get an 86?" Iketani said, joining the conversation. "It is a good idea."

"RIGHT, RIGHT?" Itsuki asked him excitedly, happy to know that he had a supporter. "You think so too, Iketani – sempai!? Hey, did you hear that, Takumi!"

"I… 'm not really familiar with this 'Eight-six'," Takumi told them. "What make is it, anyway? Mazda?" he asked making the duo look at him incredulously and disbelievingly at him.

"Are you serious, Takumi?" Iketani asked him, putting his hand over his left shoulder with the nozzle in the other hand, near Takumi's mouth. "You want to drink some unleaded petrol for a change?"

"Working at a gas station and not knowing the make of a Hachi-roku? You should be ashamed of yourself!" Itsuki added.

"It is a Toyota," Iketani finally answered Takumi's question. "I just felt the generation gap… but it is kinda expected though. You two were in the first or second grade of elementary school when the AE86 was replaced by the sixth generation AE92."

"I know about it though," Itsuki said in a low voice.

"Is it that old? Doesn't sound good to me, since we have an old Toyota at our house for the deliveries," Takumi said.

"Don't compare it to _that_!" Itsuki admonished his pal. "It may be freaking old, but the Hachi-roku is very special!" he told him. "If I get one, can I join your team sempai?" Itsuki asked the oldest of the bunch, shifting his attention away from Takumi. "I've always been looking up to you and the Akina Speedstars….."

"Since it is Saturday, everyone should be gathering at Akina's summit tonight…" Iketani told them, ignoring Itsuki's question. "Why don't you guys come along?"

"But we don't have a car…." Itsuki replied.

"Don't worry, I will be giving you a lift," Koichiro said, making Itsuki super excited.

"In your S13? We're going! I'm going for sure!" Itsuki exclaimed excitedly. If he were in his room, he would have probably danced and shed tears of joy. "Takumi, you're coming too, right!? Right!? It is a 'once-in-a-lifetime' chance! We can meet the drivers of the legendary Speedstars!"

However, Takumi wasn't bothered. The only thing on his mind at that time was: _'What the hell is an S13?' _The rest of his time at the gas station was spent listening how fast the Speedstars were, how fun it was to push a car to its limits on the touge and the related stuff. Finally at six in the evening, their time was up and the high-school duo got ready to go home.

"Well, we are off, Iketani-sempai!" Itsuki shouted to Koichiro as they headed home away from the gas station.

"I will pick you up at 8 near the bus stop, all right?" he shouted back. He heard a yes from Itsuki and soon they weren't in sight.

"So, you guys are into street racing. Which mountain you'll be going to?" Their boss, Yuichi Tachibana asked the 22-year old while he lit up a cigarette.

"Boss, Mt. Akina is the only place to go driving around here!" Iketani replied. Not that there weren't any other places nearby, it was more due to the fact that Akina was just a ten minute drive away. "Our team does claim to be the fastest on Akina!" he declared proudly.

"Many people call themselves as the fastest on Akina nowadays," Yuichi said. "When I was driving though, there was a racer who was accepted by everyone as the fastest on Akina's touge."

"Say, boss….. now you will say that 'it was me' or something, aren't you?" Iketani told his boss, not taking him seriously as he too lit up a cigarette.

"No, idiot," Yuichi said. "There really is a legendary driver on Akina and he still drives on it actively."

"Still!?" Iketani asked, raising his eyebrows. "I know most of the drivers on Mt. Akina and there is nobody that old."

"Well, sorry for being so old then!"

"Er… no, I didn't mean it like that," Iketani said chuckling. Yuichi didn't care and took a puff from his cigarette.

"He doesn't drive at the same time you guys do," the latter told. "That is because he now runs a tofu shop." On hearing this, Iketani 's mouth gaped with incredulity.

"He delivers tofu to the hotel at Lake Akina at around 4 am," Yuichi continued. "The speed when he returns to the base with the empty car is a must see for a street racer; it is something special. Since it is a business, he has to drive in any condition, even if it rains or snows. It is all down to his experience. He knows the stains on Akina's roads like the back of his hand. I can bet you 10 million yen, even if you drive all out on the downhill with your new cars, he would still outrun you. The fastest car on Akina is that tofu vendor's AE86!" he declared, which made Iketani's mouth agape again.

"Would you really bet 10 million on him, boss?" he asked his boss curiously.

"Er… no it is 1 mil. No no no…. it is 100K and that is true!"

In the meantime, Takumi was getting ready for the meet at Akina's summit. He put on a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans trousers, put on a watch and his shoes. He came out of the shop, to find his dad leaning against the wall reading a newspaper and smoking a cigarette.

"Going out?" he asked Takumi, still looking at the newspaper.

"Yeah, I made a promise with Itsuki."

"It is okay, but I will wake you up in the morning."

"I know that!" Takumi complained. "You don't have to tell me that every single day!"

While Takumi was complaining about Bunta's nagging to him, Yuichi was closing down for the night. Just as he was closing the shutter of the adjoined garage, he saw a convoy of modified cars led by a FD3S going towards Mt. Akina.

'_Hm…. haven't seen these guys before. Going to at this time of the night?' _he thought. '_They sure don't like the fellas visting the hot springs. Is something happening at the mountain tonight?'_

The Akina SpeedStars were cruising up the mountain, led by Iketani's S13 which was also carrying Takumi and Itsuki to the meet.

"WAAAAAAH!" Takumi screamed sitting on the back seat, unable to keep calm at the rather horrible way the S13 was cornering.

"Shut the hell up!" Itsuki admonished him. "You will disturb Iketani-sempai!"

"But I am scared!" Takumi shot back.

"No wonder, it the first time you are riding with a hashiriya. Anyone would be afraid," Iketani told him. "Coming up, hairpin in second gear!" he declared as the S13 was approaching a left hairpin.

"Please STOP!" Takumi pleaded.

"Just shut the hell up!" his friend told him. "Be silent!"

The rest of the run was very frightening for Takumi and when they finally reached the top, the first thing he did was to puke.

"Are you alright?" Iketani asked him.

"He almost passed out," Kenji commented.

"Since I didn't think it would be that scary, I got fired up and attacked pretty hard," Iketani told Takumi, who was sitting on the ground.

"Urrgh…." was all Takumi could say.

"You are pathetic, Takumi, getting that scared. Are you a man? I am ashamed of you!" Itsuki scolded him. "You must be the type that screams when going on a rollercoaster."

"I never found a roller coaster that scary," Takumi replied. "You will not understand this fear, even if I explain it to you." He said, leaving Itsuki puzzled.

In the meantime, Yuichi was calling up on Bunta to check up with his old friend.

"Yes, Fujiwara-tofu," Bunta said, picking up the receiver. "You? Why all of a sudden?"

"Well, I've got nothing better to do," Yuichi replied. "Just came to think of you and wanted to check how you were you doing…."

"I am the same as always….."

"And so is your eight-six," Yuichi told him. "I ran into you on your way home from the morning delivery the other day. I signaled you but you ignored me and went on your way."

"Ah, it was not me," Bunta corrected him.

"Hell, it wasn't!" the former exclaimed. "It was your 86! It had the Fujiwara Tofu logo and all that…."

"Yes, it was my car but I wasn't driving it…. Takumi has been delivering Tofu to the lakeside hotel now." Bunta replied, scratching his cheek.

"What!?" Yuichi exclaimed. "Since when!?"

"Five years ago," came the reply. A smile was starting to form on Bunta's face.

"Every day since five years!"

By the time the old friends had finished checking up on each other, the FD's convoy reached Akina.

"Haven't seen these cars here before," Iketani told his teammates.

"Must be some outsider team," one of them told their leader, who instantly recognized the logo on the cars. The cars parked on the opposite side of the road, and the famous Takahashi brothers stepped out.

"We are from Mount Akagi," Keisuke Takahashi introduced his team. "And we are the members of Akagi RedSuns."

'_I knew it!'_ Iketani thought. _'Akagi's fastest, the Redsuns!'_

"Sorry for going straight to business," Keisuke continued. "But can you tell us which team is the fastest here on Mt. Akina?"

**Ryosuke explains….**

A: So you guys finally made it to Mount Akina!

R: Yeah, so?

A: Nothing. We forgot a term to explain from the previous chapter, so uh… what are lateral G's?

R: Lateral G-force is the force that pushes you sideways when you go round a turn at high speed. If it is too high, the ones sitting in the car can fly off easily given there is no obstruction. It is more on flat corners and is reduced if the corner is is the reason bucket seats are installed in cars designed to corner at high speeds, like sports cars.

A: Okay, what is a RWD car?

R: RWD cars are those cars in which the engine power is delivered to the rear wheels. Depending on where the engine is placed, it can be classified into FR, MR and RR. FR means front engined rear wheel drive (seen in Mazda RX-7, Nissan 370Z, Toyota GT86 etc.), MR means mid engined real wheel drive (seen in Honda / Acura NSX, Toyota MR2, Ford GT etc.) and RR means rear engined rear wheel drive (seen in the iconic Porsche 911).

A: What is a FF?

R: FF means a front engined front wheel drive car. Examples of this type of car include most family cars like the Ford Fiesta and hot hatches like the Honda Civic.

A: What is body roll?

R: Body roll means the shifting of a car's weight in the direction of the centrifugal force (the force that pushes you outwards when travelling in a circular path). It is seen in cars with a soft suspension setup when turning hard, because the suspension is more compliant. If the car turns left, the body will lean towards the right and if the car turns right, the body will lean towards the left. For racing, it is advisable to reduce the body roll as much as possible by stiffening up the springs while still retaining some softness, especially if the road surface is rough.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In reply to Keisuke's question, Iketani answered, "We are the members of Akina SpeedStars and we consider ourselves the fastest team on these roads." Keisuke then signaled to their spokesperson Hiroshi Fumihiro do the talking.

"I'd like you all to hear us out," he started. "You know that we have created street racing teams like this so that we can have fun while driving but….. it gets boring if you just keep racing with only the locals. To improve your skills, you should have exchanges with outside teams once in a while, you know…. Making friends and exchanging information too…"

"So, I have a suggestion. How about an exchange with our team here next Saturday?" he asked in a friendly manner. "We begin by cruising around up and down the hill, and then we will have our representatives duke it out in time attack races both uphill and downhill. No fuss about losing and winning. So what do you say?"

"If you put it that way, I do not see any reason to disagree" Iketani replied.

"So, that settles it then!" Fumihiro said happily. "We will practice this night then." Then all the RedSuns sat in their cars and took off the straight.

"Hey, don't be nervous, we are going out too!" Kenji told the drivers, pointing at their cars. "Let us show them the level of Mt. Akina's racers!" he declared. They too got in their cars and started their run for the night, leaving their leader Iketani with Takumi and Itsuki.

"Don't be fooled," Iketani told the duo. "They may have said sweet things, but it is just a formality. In practice it is a challenge. They came here to show off their speed, but as a local I won't let them make fun of me. I will see for myself how fast the Takahashi brothers, fastest on Akagi, drive… "

"Takahashi brothers!?" Itsuki asked, instantly recognizing the name.

"You remember there was a FC and a FD? They are quite famous as street racers. They've even been in magazines, and are also known as the Rotary Brothers. This is the first time I've seen them for real," he explained as he got behind the wheel of his S13.

"Sempai!? What about us?" Itsuki asked.

"Sorry, I do not take passengers when I am doing serious runs," he told them. "Wait here, I'll pick you up later!" And then, the S13 took off and within seconds, it was nowhere to be seen, leaving Itsuki and Takumi alone.

"This is too sad," Itsuki lamented, getting down on his knees. "Why are we the only ones without a car at times like this?" he asked himself, while Takumi was standing still, looking at the road.

"Say, Itsuki," he finally opened his mouth. "Is being a street racer that fun? I find people getting fired up over that very strange…."

"I'm the one who's amazed, Takumi…" Itsuki answered. "Are you sure you do not feel anything? Doesn't you blood stir when you hear a tuned car revving at full throttle!?" he asked, making Takumi look quizzically at him.

The Takahashi brothers were standing at a parking lot observing the drivers attack the corners with all they had got, with their RX-7's parked right behind them.

"Aniki, what do you think?" Keisuke asked, looking at the SpeedStars's style of driving.

"They are trash," Ryosuke commented. "Even our second rate drivers can win very easily. We don't need to send our best drivers next week. I will pass."

"If you pass on it, I guess I'll do so too," the younger guy replied.

"No, you will race…" Ryosuke told him, making Keisuke think if he was also a second rate driver. "For now, we need to set a course record the locals cannot even dream of beating, no matter for how many years they try. Otherwise, the name of the Takahashi brothers and the Akagi RedSuns will not become a legend," he explained.

"First, we will claim all the course records of Gunma," he continued, explaining the game plan. "Eventually, we will do the same in Saitama, Kanagawa, Tokyo and Chiba. Only then we can retire as legendary street racers. This is my 'Fastest in Kanto' project!" he declared.

Down at Akina's roads, Iketani and his S13 were going as fast as they can. He sped through the corners to the best of his ability; even then he couldn't get a glimpse of the RedSuns' tail lights.

'_They are fast… even going all out, I can't even catch up with one of them!' _Iketani thought, while cornering through a left hairpin of Akina's many tough corners. The next few hours were spent by the SpeedStars trying to play catch-up, but it was of no use. Finally, they decided to meet up at the summit.

"Those guys are simply incredible," Kenji told the team. "They are on a whole different level… I tried to watch their techniques from behind, but could not keep up. I'd been told that the level of racing was high at Akagi, but I didn't think it was _that _high. They have spent money on their cars; very different cars. We just cannot go against them, Iketani…." To which Iketani had to agree.

"But we can't run away on our home course….. we have agreed to do it, and so we will do it. It's getting late now, so we'll meet up somewhere else tomorrow," he told the team. "Itsuki and Takumi, get in. We are leaving," he told the duo. By the next five minutes, they were cruising down the hill.

"Among street racers, many of them hate losing as they've got a lot of pride," Iketani told the duo. "Anyone would think of themselves as pretty skilled and very fast. We aren't different I guess. When it comes to racing, we all get serious…" he told them, making Takumi wonder about it again.

"There is nothing more pathetic as losing to outsiders on your home course," Iketani continued. "Locals should not lose to outsiders at any cost. It is like an unwritten law of street racers. If you two start racing, you'll understand my feelings eventually…"

"I don't see Ryosuke-san's FC anywhere… where is it?" A team member asked Keisuke upon coming back to the summit another couple of hours later. Keisuke was sitting on his FD's hood, smoking a cigarette.

"Aniki left a long while ago….." he said, taking a puff. "And we three are the only ones left. We've been racing for quite a while, and I'm running out of fuel. What is the time?"

"Just a few minutes before 4 am," came the reply.

"About time to withdraw then," he told them and fired up his RX-7. Soon he was going down the hill at full speed, thinking this as a practice run too.

'_Hmm….'_ Keisuke thought, glancing at the rearview mirror whilst going through the course's first medium left corner. _'Can't keep up when I drive seriously? They still need practice as the downhill's quite tough. Might as well slow down a bit and let them catch up.'_ Just then, he saw a pair of headlights approaching him quite fast.

'_Someone's coming fast…. Who is it?'_ he thought, squinting at the rear view mirror through the glare. Little did he know that it was an old AE86 coming up. Within moments, it was right up the FD's bumper.

'_No… that is not one of our cars…who is it? From what I can see, it could be a SW20 or a RPS13.' _He thought, looking at the mysterious car still at it_. 'Fine! I will make him a speck in my rear view mirror before the second corner!'_ Before Keisuke knew it, the course's first right hairpin was fast approaching. He downshifted to third using **heel toe** and flicked the car into the corner hard, and finally he could recognize the model of the car chasing him. And he was shocked to find out.

"_An AE86!? No fucking way!" _he exclaimed as he exited the corner at full throttle. Needless to say, the 86 was slowly left behind, but it caught up again when Keisuke had to slow down for a left corner.

'_I can't shake him off! Is this a nightmare or something? Being tailed by a goddamn Eight-Six?'_ he thought furiously. _'This can't be fucking happening! I am supposed to be the second best in the Akagi RedSuns!' _thought Keisuke, as if being their second best meant a guaranteed win. A slow right followed by a sharp left hairpin was coming up fast and Keisuke slowed down. Amazingly, the 86 didn't and it came right beside the FD as they went into the right turn.

'_Doesn't this fella know the road!? If he doesn't slow down, he will end up in the bottom of the valley!' _he thought frantically._ 'This loose right is followed by a sharp left!' _Soon, they were approaching the let turn and the 86 seemed to be losing control as the vehicle was turning right.

'_Didn't I tell ya!' _Keisuke thought, seeing the 86. _'It is too late! The centrifugal force his pushing the rear wheels out! He's too fast to slow down and straighten up!'_

Just then, the 86 seemed to regain control and it turned towards the corner in an excellent execution of an **inertia drift **at a seemingly impossible speed.

'_What the…. An inertia drift!?'_ he thought and turned into the left corner. But his mind was engrossed in thought to be performing the throttle control correctly and he spun out, facing the inside guardrail.

'_I can't believe it. Did I see a ghost of a racer who died on this mountain or something?'_ Keisuke continued to think. _'The cornering from the first right was a feint to set him up for the next left corner. What a perfect drift! Even in the RedSuns, only Aniki could master such a tough technique…..'_ he thought as he came out of his FD and shut the door. Soon his teammates reached the spot.

"Keisuke-san! Are you alright?" one of them asked, looking at the FD which had spun out.

"Yeah I am," came the reply. Keisuke was still thinking of that supposedly 'ghost' of an 86. _'My pride is torn to bits. A tuned FD3S losing to some ten year old AE86… What was that 86!?'_

**Ryosuke explains...**

Heel toe - It means operating the throttle and brake pedals simultaneously with the right foot, while facilitating normal activation of the clutch with the left foot. It is used when braking and downshifting simultaneously when approaching a corner. Since the heel and the toes of our right foot touch two pedals at the same time, it is called so.

Inertia Drift - Also called feint drifting, it involves the use of inertia (the property of an object to resist changes to its state of rest or state of motion) to get the car drifting. Suppose you are approaching a left corner, you would turn a bit towards the right (transferring weight to inside wheels) and immediately turn left (shifting weight to the outside wheels). This makes the car turn in more (or oversteer). Which in turn leads to a bigger angle and more brownie points from the judges.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: I sincerely hope you didn't think I died. Well, you know what school and a pissed off parent can mean for you, hehe. Please R&amp;R, as it means a lot to me!

Chapter 3

The next day, at the Fujiwara Tofu Shop…..

"Takumi! TAKUMI!" Bunta called out to his son, who was sleeping soundly in his room.

"There's a phone call for you! How long are you gonna sleep, huh?" He shouted out even louder, waking Takumi up. If left alone, he would still sleep even in the middle of an earthquake.

Takumi was rolling around on his bed, startled by his father. "Just Itsuki, right?" he shouted back in a groggy voice, scratching his head. He was having a good nap, and didn't like getting disturbed.

"Just get up already!" Bunta said, and went back to his work. Takumi yawned, and not bothering to rectify the unruly mess his hair was in, he went downstairs and finally picked up the phone.

"Hey, it is me…" he said in a still sleepy voice.

"You were sleeping when I called, right?" A feminine voice asked on the other end, trying hard to contain a giggle. It didn't take Takumi long to recognize who was the caller.

"Mogi!?"

"Yes, it is me." she replied. "How about we meet up at the stairs leading up to the temple?"

* * *

And after few minutes, he found himself on the steps going up to the temple which was surrounded by quite a few shops. Since she hadn't told him exactly where she was, Takumi started looking in each shop and finally by the time he made it halfway up, he found her leaning against the wall waiting for him, clad in a dark blue t-shirt and a white skirt..

"Takumi-kun! Here!" She called him happily, waving her hands. Takumi walked towards her.

"Were you surprised?" She asked him.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I was thinking it would be Itsuki."

"Well," she continued. "I thought it was time to patch up things with Takumi-kun…" she muttered. Takumi just stared at her blankly.

"We weren't fighting or anything, Mogi." He stated. "That leaves nothing to patch up."

"Then we are friends again," she said smiling at him, while adding 'I am glad to hear that' in her mind. "Yesterday, you guys were talking about cars right?" she queried, changing the topic. Takumi nodded.

"So, can you drive?"

"Yeah, I got my license recently." Takumi replied. Natsuki's smile widened, seeing that Takumi wouldn't have a good reason to refuse to what she was going to ask next.

"So, let's go for a drive in the summer holiday then! You will be driving and Natsuki will make the lunch!" she finally said. Takumi nodded.

"Fine by me," he agreed. "But it is a really old car we use for the business."

"That's ok, I don't care what car it is. At least it has a cassette deck, right?" she asked, and he nodded again. "I'm sure we will have a lot fun….. I am getting excited!"

"I guess..." he muttered and they started walking up the stairs, with Natsuki taking the lead. Takumi stared at her as they climbed.

'_Somehow, she feels incredibly sexy...'_

Not knowing what exactly made him say that, he blurted out, "Since we are going, let's go somewhere far." He mentally slapped himself, not sure how Natsuki would react.

"I know!" she replied happily, which made his fears disappear. "The ocean's good don't you think? It is summer anyway, we can go swimming!"

"The two of us?"

"Why not?" She replied.

* * *

In the meantime, Iketani was cruising down the streets of Shibukawa searching for the legendary AE86 his boss was telling him about. He had searched just about every tofu shop in Shibukawa and the nearby towns and had only one more shop to go: The Fujiwara Tofu Shop. Soon, he found it and he also found the panda AE86 parked on the small space the shop had beside it.

'_No mistaking it. This car is an Eight-Six. I finally found the tofu vendor I was looking for! '_ Iketani thought, and he lit up a cigarette. "Is this it? This was the fastest downhill machine my boss mentioned?" he muttered while taking a drag.

"It looks like any other stock AE86" he muttered, carefully scrutinizing the car to check for custom parts. "Except the fog lamps..." he added.

'_It is an early model; a GT-APEX. There is no way this car can beat the latest ones! Power might be less important downhill but everything has its limit!' _He thought, removing the cigarette from his mouth and crushing it under his feet. _'I can't believe I got excited over this old car. Sheesh..' _He mentally admonished himself and turned around to get in his S13.

"Huh? Iketani-sempai?"

Iketani looked at the owner of that voice and it was Takumi, who looked like he had been out for a stroll. Of all people, he was the last guy Iketani expected to see.

"Takumi!? Is this your house?" Takumi nodded.

"Anyway," Iketani continued. "Since it is time for work, you go and get ready. I will wait for you here and we can go together." Takumi nodded again and went inside the shop.

* * *

"I am really lucky to get a ride to work, thanks Iketani-sempai…" Takumi muttered, looking out of the window from the S13. "But sempai, what were you doing there anyway?"

"Well uh, I just had an errand to run in the neighborhood…" Iketani said looking at the road. "Anyway, you said you don't know a thing about cars, do you? That car at your house is an Eight-Six!" he said, adding 'What sort of a fool are you?' mentally.

"Huh?" Takumi gaped, eyes wide open. "But wait a minute; I am certain that they have written 'Trueno ' on it!" which reminded Iketani that Takumi really meant it when he said he didn't know anything when it came to cars.

"See, the Trueno is an 86! Both the Trueno and Levin models are called AE86 collectively! It is easier to refer to cars by their chassis name so we call a Trueno and a Levin AE86." Iketani explained with the patience of a school teacher. By the time he was finished, they reached the gas station and the older guy told Itsuki all about it.

"Really? Takumi's place has an AE86?" Itsuki exclaimed, now furious at Takumi. "DAMN YOU TAKUMI!"

"It is not my fault, I came to know only today," Takumi defended himself. "If you wanna refer to a Trueno, then say that! Normal people don't call 'em AE86!" he protested. Not knowing what to do, Iketani and Itsuki just stared at him.

"Hey!" Itsuki called him. "Come over here!" he said, signaling with his hand.

"What?" Takumi asked, having a bad feeling about what was going to happen next.

"Can you borrow the AE86 next Saturday?" he requested.

"Why?"

"I thought it was obvious," Itsuki muttered. "To go and see the race between the SpeedStars and the RedSuns of course!" he exclaimed. "I've been into that kind of thing ever since what happened yesterday! Don't you wanna see the Rotary Brothers in action!?"

"Not really," Takumi replied, once again failing to see the point.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" Itsuki shouted furiously, trying to strangle Takumi. "I AM ASKING YOU SO NICELY! WHAT SORTA FRIEND ARE YA?" he asked. "Please! I'm on my knees! Let's go in the AE86 Saturday night!" he pleaded.

"Hey! What are you two sneaking off to talk about?" Iketani told them sternly. "There are customers waiting for us!"

"Gomen nasai!" The duo apologized and rushed towards the waiting cars. "I am counting on you pal!" Itsuki told Takumi. But Takumi knew it wasn't easy to borrow the car from his father.

That night at the gas station's small attached garage, Iketani had his S13 up a ramp and started working on the brakes and the suspension, knowing well that his poor car had to give him everything it had got to keep with the canary yellow FD of Takahashi Keisuke. He got new tires and new brake pads to go along with it too.

"Hey," Kenji said raising his hand. He and the rest of the SpeedStars noticed the new tires.

"Quite the spender, aren't we?" a team member said, lifting one tire. "Dunlop Formula RSV, huh? These look quite pricey," Another added.

"Well, my old tires won't do," Iketani said, still focused on the job at hand. "I must improve my times by doing everything I can. I even changed the brake pads. Braking on the downhill is crucial." He commented.

"So, you will be racing them after all…" Kenji said with a sigh.

"Hai." He agreed. "I will race on the downhill as if my life depended on it."

"Don't push yourself too much, Koichiro. You should know that one mistake on the downhill can be fatal," Kenji advised, his voice loaded with concern for his best friend.

"I do know that, Kenji." Iketani replied. "But I will have to push myself a little. I and all of us have our pride don't we?"

* * *

Mount Akina.

The S13's SR20DET roared while going as fast as it could. Its driver was also pushing it as far as he could in a desperate attempt to shave off a few seconds from his fastest time.

'_This is tough!'_ he thought. _'The slow bends which I thought to be easy as cake are showing to be terrifying corners! It's like I am learning the downhill all over again! The downhill has begun to reveal its vicious fangs!'_ Understanding it was hopeless to continue practicing that day he slowed down, did a three point turn and went back to the summit.

By the time he reached his teammates were wondering how the hell he had made his way down the hill and back up again in such a short amount of time. "How's it going, Koichiro?" Kenji asked.

"It's hopeless," Iketani answered, while lighting up a cigarette. "I'm just not getting anywhere. I've been messing around with the settings too," he said dejectedly. Just then, he saw a new pair of headlights coming towards them at a fast pace. Judging from the sound, it was a rotary.

"It is the RX-7 from the Akagi Redsuns; he has been coming here every night…" Kenji answered the very question which was forming in Iketani's mind. By now the yellow color of the FD3S was visible.

"The FD? That has to be Takahashi Keisuke, their second fastest," Iketani told them. "I wonder why driver of his caliber is practicing that intensively…." He muttered while taking a puff from his cigarette. Just then the FD slowed down, spun around using a handbrake turn and then sped off.

Keisuke was determined to become much faster than ever before. His pride had been wounded the night that mysterious panda AE86 overtook and outran him like it was a piece of cake. Just thinking of that inertial drift it had pulled off right in front of him made his blood boil. He wanted revenge.

A corner was coming up fast. Keisuke delayed the braking as much as he could and sent the car into a **power over drift**, coming dangerously close to the edge of the inside gutter. The people who were standing by went crazy on seeing the FD drift at a dangerously high speed.

'_It's not here today too,' _Keisuke thought, relaxing for a bit on Akina's few long straightaways. _'That Eight-Six! That guy was familiar with Akina as if it was his backyard. I want to meet him again! I will not calm down until I get my revenge!' _He thought furiously as he prepared himself for another corner.

'_I don't give a shit about the SpeedStars! I am here for you!_ _Show yourself, Akina no Yūrei!'_

* * *

The Gas Station…

"Arigato gosaimazu!" Takumi said once the customer was satisfied with his services and took off. He sighed. Today, quite a lot of cars were coming to the station. Unbeknownst to him, his colleagues were carefully observing him.

"I've been thinking, my friend knows too little…" Itsuki told Iketani. "Let's teach him stuff so that he becomes a better stand employee, sempai!" He said and went towards Takumi. Iketani followed him thinking that Itsuki wasn't so knowledgeable when it came to cars either. "Hey Takumi!" he called, and that made Takumi look at him.

"Hey, what is a drift Takumi? It is a term street racers across Japan love." Itsuki told Takumi, trying to start a conversation.

"Even I know that! I ain't no idiot!" Takumi told him.

"Explain it to me then!" Itsuki challenged him.

"Well," Takumi started. "In the curve…"

"That sounds lame," Itsuki said disapprovingly. "Call it a corner, that's how street racers call them."

"Okay, in the _corner_, you let the front wheel slide outwards so that the car doesn't go too much inwards like this," Takumi tried to explain, and also showed them the way he would turn the steering wheel.

"Huuuuh!" Iketani and Itsuki said whill looking at him incredulously. Then they burst out laughing, making their manager look at them from inside the office as if they had gone mad.

"Spare me, Takumi!" Itsuki managed to say while laughing, which embarrassed Takumi. "Letting the front wheels slide is called understeer, that is the most uncool thing one can do! You let the rear slide, not the front! You are the best, Takumi!" Iketani added and went on laughing. But someone didn't quite agree with them; their boss.

'_You are the one who isn't getting it Iketani! During a drift, a car is basically understeering.' _Yuuichi thought._ 'That was an incredibly advanced answer only someone who has mastered the technique of __**four wheel drift**__ can give! He's really something!'_

By then, they had an unexpected arrival; that of Takahashi Keisuke and his notorious yellow FD. Recognising the car, Iketani was shocked. Oblivious to the fact, Takumi went to ask Keisuke what he could do for him.

"Fill her up," the blond Takahashi said as he lowered his window. "High octane only."

"Hai," Takumi replied and started filling the FD up. Wanting to talk with him, Iketani used the job of cleaning his windows as an excuse to get closer to Keisuke.

"Mr. Customer," Iketani said in a low voice, cleaning the front right window. "Getting quite dedicated, aren't we?" he asked. Keisuke recognized the voice and looked around him. And he finally saw Iketani's S13 parked nearby.

"I knew I'd seen that Silvia somewhere," Keisuke muttered. "So it is the Speedstars." He said. Iketani chose to ignore him and went on with his work. Keisuke continued. "Let me ask something. There's a ghost on Akina's pass, right?"

"Please stop joking around," Iketani said seriously. "_Mr. Customer."_

Keisuke let out a small chuckle. "Well, I was joking about the ghost, but it was a black and white Sprinter Trueno. It looked stock on the outside, but inside it must be an outrageous monster. There's no goddamn way a local cannot know about that…" he said calmly, looking at Iketani right into the eye. To be honest, Iketani didn't know what the hell he was talking about. In the meantime, Takumi was checking out the rather huge spoiler of the FD and wondered if it could fly.

"What are you saying!?" Iketani said, not bothering to keep his serious demeanor anymore.

"If that's the way you wanna play it, fine. If it is your secret weapon for Saturday's meet then that is fine by me." Keisuke said coolly, mistaking Iketani's curious expression to be a fake one. "Tell the driver of that AE86, I lost before because I didn't know the course and was unprepared! I won't lose to the same opponent twice!" He exclaimed and took off fast. Takumi replied, "Thank you very much!" oblivious to the exchange between Keisuke and the Speedstars' leader.

**Ryosuke explains..**

Power over drifting - This is one of the easiest methods to induce oversteering in a RWD car. It is done by flooring the throttle in the middle of the corner, which will make the rear wheels lose traction. But this technique requires a lot of horsepower and good traction on the front tires.

Four wheel drift - A four wheel drift is when the car is "drifting" sideways through a corner with all four wheels pointing forward and the slip on each wheel is equal giving you a perfect drift.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: I had to keep you all waiting for a long time, so here's the next chapter! 2 updates in a day! Please R&amp;R!

Chapter 4

Koichiro Iketani stood still as the FD disappeared into the distance. He was truly shocked when he heard about Keisuke's defeat at the hands of a supposed ghost. _'Takahashi Keisuke… LOST!? But t-that's…. I dunno about any such panda Trueno!'_

Then he turned back to see Takumi staring at him with a blank expression. When Iketani also stared back, the younger guy's expression went from blank to clueless. Thankfully for him, another customer arrived so Takumi went away, leaving Iketani to his thoughts.

'_It can't be…' _he thought with disbelief. The description the younger Takahashi had given reminded him of the Trueno at Takumi's place. '_The 86 at Takumi's home was a panda Trueno! The boss wasn't making things up, there really is an 86 that is the fastest!'_

Behind him, Itsuki was talking with a low voice to Takumi. "Hey Takumi, weren't the Redsuns' guy and sempai talking about something? Did you hear it?" he asked, and the latter stared at him blankly.

"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't hear anything either."

* * *

Mount Akina.

The S13 was speeding down the final straightaway before the finish line, which was just a few seconds away. He took his stopwatch in his hand and hit the stop button. Then slowing down, he parked his car and allowed it to cool off. And only then, he stared at the stopwatch's display and sighed.

No improvement at all.

'_It's no good.' _He thought sadly. '_Even if I drive like a maniac, my time's not improving at all. Before I used to think that I would improve just by stepping on the gas but it isn't that easy…' _He thought and stepping out of the S13, he leaned against his car. '_As things stand, we don't have a chance of winning. Is this the best my technique can do?' _he asked himself mentally, allowing the cool breeze to brush past his face.

While Iketani was getting ready to leave, the alarm clock in Takumi's room rang. It was 3:45 am. He stood up, washed his face and went downstairs. His father, the Trueno and the tofu were waiting for him. Takumi got inside the car while Bunta went inside the shop to fetch his son a cup of water. Just as he was giving him the cup of water, Takumi switched on the headlights and lowered the window.

"There you go," Bunta said, giving the cup to his son who then placed it in the cup holder installed in the front of the AC vents. "Don't spill it!"

As if you need to ask, Takumi thought. He started the engine and once he revved it lightly at neutral, he placed the car into the first gear and took off. Within mere minutes, he was at Mount Akina's base. Now, Takumi thought, was the time to let it rip. He downshifted to second and pressed on the accelerator and the 86 was more than happy to oblige. Within a few seconds he was at the first hairpin. Rapidly downshifting from fifth gear to third, he feint drifted the car so close to the inner guardrail that anyone would ask him he had a death wish. But he didn't care. All he wanted to do was to deliver the tofu and come back as fast as possible so that he could sleep more. While that was a strange reason to get faster, it kept him motivated to do so and in the end that's all that really mattered.

He eyed the cup, whose water was so dangerously close to the edge just like the 86 was to the guardrail. He then readjusted his footwork and then exited with such a speed that would make Iketani faint. And he continued this game both up and downhill, as a mere amusement because to him driving down a pass at a suicidal pace was pretty boring.

* * *

Shibukawa High School, Gunma.

"TAKUMII!" Itsuki called out to his best friend who was walking down to the main entrance. Still feeling sleepy, Takumi just gave him a curt nod and then looked far away.

"As usual, the same old sleepy face…" Itsuki commented sarcastically.

"I am sorry; I was born with this face." Takumi replied with equal sarcasm in his voice, making Itsuki regret he'd said that.

"Don't forget the AE86 on Saturday night!" he reminded Takumi. Ever since the day he knew Takumi had a Trueno at his house, he didn't leave Takumi without pestering him at least fifty times per day, and Takumi was fed up of him.

"I know, stop pestering me already!" Takumi retorted back angrily, looking at him through the corner of his eye.

"I'll have to be this persistent, or else I'll worry! When will Saturday come!? I can't wait!" Itsuki said excitedly as they stepped into the building. Me too, Takumi thought because that would be the day his friend would stop his constant pestering.

"I'm so excited!" Itsuki said, as if that wasn't obvious already. "I want Iketani-sempai to win, but I also want to see the parallel drift of the Takahashi brothers. And since we will be street racers too, we must aim to be the fastest at Akina! Right?"

"I don't give a toss about being someone like that," Takumi mumbled.

"Of course," Itsuki shamelessly agreed. "You don't have even an ounce of talent, given how you were reacting to Iketani-sempai's driving. But I held together and stared at the corner exits. He might have lost all hope on you but he's thinking how I will turn out! Hehehe!" He laughed bobbing up and down like a kid at a candy store. Takumi took the chance and walked away, leaving the others to look at Itsuki as if he had lost his marbles. By the time he caught up with his best friend, Itsuki caught Takumi looking at the girls' rather short skirts.

"I saw it!" Itsuki said teasingly while Takumi decided to remain mum. "I think they cut their skirts low on purpose," Itsuki continued. "They must love showing off their panties! I don't like it when girls with elephant like legs wear short skirts, but when it comes to pretty girls…" he was about to continue but he got a look from Takumi; one suggesting that he was giving more info than necessary.

But anyhow, Itsuki got his wish; a girl with pretty legs clad in a short skirt. For a moment the duo got a glimpse of her panties leaving them both speechless and the former thought he was in heaven.

"Takumi-kun! Good morning!" The girl greeted them (or rather Takumi), causing the two boys to change the focus from her skirt to her face. It was Natsuki Mogi, the cutest girl in their batch.

"Ah!" She said, remembering something. "Takumi-kun, I wanted to talk to you… over here…"She said pointing towards the terrace. Takumi nodded and followed her with Itsuki wondering whether she really hated his best pal; she looked far from it. He decided to let it go and keep that heavenly glimpse burning in his mind.

"What's the matter?" Takumi asked Natsuki once they were on the terrace. The look she gave him suggested that it was something really serious.

"I have something to tell you Takumi. Well…"

Takumi too looked at her seriously, egging her to continue.

"Hehe… actually…" She said and let out a small giggle, seeing it that increased his curiosity. But it didn't and she finally decided to tell him. "I bought a new swimsuit! It is so kawaai!" she revealed with a smile. If it weren't for the handrail, Takumi would have fallen off the terrace.

"What the… I thought you would be telling something more serious than that," he said disbelievingly.

"I know," She agreed. "But I was so excited I couldn't be calm without telling anybody! You wanna see it? You want to what's the color like? Huh?" She asked him teasingly. Even though he wasn't interested at all, Takumi thought she would be disappointed if he said no, so he decided to play along.

"I kinda want to see it, I guess..."

"Well, you will have to wait till we go to the beach," she said happily, mistaking his fake curiosity to be a real one. "That should give you some incentive…" she continued, without being aware how it could be interpreted. Fortunately for her, Takumi took the meaning the way she had intended it.

"How about this Sunday, Takumi-kun?"

"This Sunday?" Takumi asked looking at her. "Yeah, I think I'll be free that day."

"That's a promise then!" She said, clearly considering the matter to be settled. "Don't break your promise, 'cause Natsuki hates two kinds of people: one who smokes tobacco and the one who breaks his promises!"

"What if it rains?"

"Ah, don't worry about it," she said dismissing his question. And right then the bell rang, and they rushed to their respective classrooms.

* * *

Iketani found himself wandering on the streets of Ikaho, Shibukawa; the area housing the Fujiwara Tofu Shop. And soon he was right there. He got out of his car and went inside the shop. There was a man in his forties, wearing a light blue shirt and jeans trousers. Seeing he had a customer, he went towards him.

"Welcome."

Iketani didn't reply and just stared at him. '_So he is the driver AE86 that is the fastest downhiller Akina's got. A street racer who beat Takahashi Keisuke and his FD…'_

"Mr. Customer," Bunta replied, snapping the younger man out of his reverie. "What do you need?"

"Uh…I…" Iketani mumbled, as buying tofu wasn't the reason why he came here. He looked at all the varieties and settled for deep-fried tofu. "Atsuage, please."

"Okay," Bunta said. After a few seconds, the tofu vendor took an empty packet and started filling it up with Atsuage.

Iketani finally decided to reveal his true reason for being there. "I am Iketani, and I am the leader of the local street racing team Akina Speedstars," he started, and the older man looked at him probably wondering why this man felt the need to introduce himself.

"I heard this rather odd rumor that the fastest on Akina is an Eight-Six driven by a tofu vendor…"

"I don't know who told you that," Bunta replied in a monotone voice. "But I am not the one you are looking for."

"Please don't be so ignorant," Iketani said, showing a bit of frustration in his voice. "I've searched for all tofu shops in Shibukawa and nearby towns using an 86 as their delivery vehicle, and your shop is the only one I found!"

"Hey, hey Mr. Customer," Bunta said, who was getting annoyed. "So what if it was me? Don't tell me you will challenge me for the title of Akina's fastest or something…" he said and handed the bag to Iketani. "That's 140 yen for you."

"No, far from it," Iketani said, taking the bag and paid Bunta the money. "Actually we are in a complicated position right now…. Can you hear me out?" He asked in an even tone.

"Now look I am in the middle of work…"

"You don't look that busy and there are no customers here except me," Iketani cut him bluntly.

"You shouldn't be that rude, you know saying it out like that," Bunta said, slightly offended. The younger man sighed and continued," Sorry, but I am a bit desperate!" he finally said, showing his desperation clearly.

"Okay, if it is that bad I guess I can hear you out," Bunta replied, finally giving in. "But you are probably wasting your time."

* * *

In the meantime, it was a small break for Takumi and company. He decided to stroll outside of the class for a bit. Itsuki didn't come with him; he was busy cracking jokes with some other pals of theirs. He had just came out of the classroom when he saw Natsuki and her classmate Shiraishi. She noticed him too.

When they came close enough, she beamed at him and called him "Tak-kun!" and winked at him, which annoyed Takumi a lot. "If you call me that, then I will ignore you." He told her.

"But I thought that was cute!" She complained. "And I don't," he replied dryly and walked off.

"You know Fujiwara-kun well?" Shiraishi asked Natsuki. "Did you two used to be in the same class?"

"No," Natsuki replied shaking her head. "But we were in the same club though. Why are you asking?"

"No particular reason," Shiraishi answered and shrugged. "He seems to be kinda mysterious, that's all." Hearing that made Natsuki look at her teasingly.

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Natsuki replied and went on walking.

* * *

Iketani had fully explained the dilemma the team was facing. Bunta nodded in understanding, because he too had to bail out his friend's team from a very similar situation. And coincidentally, those challengers were from Akagi too.

"There have always been plenty of good racers from Akagi," Bunta commented. "I understand your feelings but I can't come. It will be out of place for an old guy like me to get involved, so you youngsters have to sort it out yourself." He replied while lighting up a cigarette. He now sat on the 86's hood.

Iketani agreed with Bunta; it made a lot of sense. "Then at least, can you teach me how to attack Akina's downhill?"

"Sorry, but I can't do that either," Bunta shook his head. "Learning driving skills is something that needs a long period of time; not two to three days. To get the car moving the way you want, you have to keep thinking and driving. When I was active, I attacked Akina even in my dreams. Asleep or awake, driving was the only thing on my mind. Even when I had a small idea, I tested it out on the pass, no matter what the time was. I tried all sorts of things sane people wouldn't think about. Even if 9 ideas failed out of 10, I still kept driving!" Bunta replied, showing a bit of the passion for driving he had in his youth.

"That's how it is with technique." Bunta concluded. "It's not something that can be taught, it has to be created for your own self. Now go back. I am sorry I couldn't be of any help to you."

Iketani decided to try again, but this wouldn't be the right time. "I haven't given up on you, Fujiwara-san," he said with determination. "I'm a street racer raised on Akina's pass. What I can't stand is the RedSuns making fools out of all Akina's street racers! I want them to see the level of talent Akina has! You could show them that, after all you defeated the Takahashis, the fastest on Akagi…" he said and drove off in his S13. Bunta saw him disappearing into the corner and scratched his head.

'_Sheesh, but that really wasn't me," _He thought. He was right because it had been the handiwork of Takumi. He couldn't help but admire the passion Iketani had for Akina and street racing in general. Using this, Bunta decided that this was the chance to show his son that driving wasn't as boring as he thought and hopefully instill in him the same passion Iketani had for street racing and cars. With a smile on his face, he went inside the shop to resume his work.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Once he was home, Iketani kept the fried tofu on his table and sat on a chair, thinking deeply about all the things Takumi's dad told him. He knew although the old man had stopped actively racing a long time ago, the fire and his competitive streak he had when it came to racing was clearly visible when he was talking to him, sitting on the Eight-Six's hood.

'_Dreaming of Akina, huh? He must have been crazy about cars….'_

He then walked over to the only window and saw his beloved S13 parked in the driveway, and then suddenly felt an urge to practice on Akina even harder than ever before. He knew his technique was far from being polished unlike that of his opponent Keisuke, but then again no one was born with the skills of a racer. One had to get them through determination and practice and he was no different. But before he looked into the practical aspects, he must know the techniques at least in theory.

"Koichiro! Come and have some tea!"

"Aa! I'm coming!" he replied and went downstairs, thinking he'd then go to the book store and buy some books related to driving techniques.

That night, he once again went to Akina's pass with his S13. Trying as hard as he could to tackle the corners as fast as possible, he tried to do whatever he knew and pushed the S13 as far as he could. And on his fifth uphill run, he reached the summit quicker than before and decided to check his time.

He had improved his uphill record by three seconds. Not bad for a start, he thought.

But downhill was different. He couldn't bring himself to push it as much as he did on the uphill, because finding the right braking point was much difficult while going down due to the extra speed the hill's slope gave him. He knew very well that one mistake here could send him plummeting down a cliff, and this fear didn't allow him to do his best.

Like Bunta told him, he thought of all things he could possibly do to increase his pace but none had worked so far. He let out a sigh once he was on the longest straight Akina had.

'_I don't get it no matter how much I think….I can't figure anything on my own, I'll need a hint!'_

Just then, a sharp left hander was approaching which made Iketani concentrate the road again. He downshifted to second, a tad less than needed and turned into the corner. Just then, he saw a thing which all touge racers dread.

He saw a car approaching the same corner he was tackling.

"Oncoming headlights!?" he thought, as the Mitsubishi SUV came nearer. Before he knew, the S13 started to understeer heavily and he was right in the path of the SUV. Then it all happened in a matter of seconds: The SUV driver tried to chuck the car inwards to prevent a collision but the car wasn't as eager to change direction and it brushed lightly against the left side of the S13, which changed the Nissan's trajectory towards the guardrail, making it crash.

The sight was horrible; the left headlight was smashed into pieces, the bumper and the hood were under the railing and were heavily damaged and it had barely managed to keep the mint green car on the road. The Mitsubishi stopped quickly and its driver rushed to the Nissan with a frown on his face.

"That was dangerous!" He shouted as he ran towards the crashed car. "Hang on! Daijobu ka!?" He asked him worriedly while trying to open the passenger door to pull its driver out. Iketani looked at him, with blood trickling down on his face. He was far from being okay.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying much attention…" he managed to say weakly. "Gomen nasai…" and right then he lost consciousness, making the other guy even more panicky.

"Wait! I'll call an ambulance!" he said, while rushing back to his car to get help.

* * *

"WHAAAT!? IKETANI-SEMPAI HAD AN ACCIDENT!?" Takumi and Itsuki exclaimed in unison, unable to believe the bad news Kenji had told them.

"Hai. On Akina's downhill last night," the older man confirmed. "I've seen the spot and the guardrail was bent horribly…"

"Was he hurt?" Itsuki asked with a much lower tone.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought; he has a minor concussion with head and neck injuries. The four point safety belt saved him from a whole world of pain but it dealt a huge blow to his self-confidence," Kenji muttered sadly. "And his car's pretty beat up."

"Can they fix his S13?"

"Yeah, it can be fixed," Kenji confirmed. "But not in time for the exchange on Saturday. Even if it was fixed, the driver isn't in a state to drive a car, let alone race with it!" he said, not knowing what to do for the exchange without their leader and best driver.

Meanwhile, the subject of their conversation was going on a scooter to the Nissan dealership to which his poor S13 had been delivered. Needless to say, the people working there were very surprised to see him back so soon.

"Iketani-san, should you be really up and about?" The salesman asked, as the young man was wearing a neck brace and his head was bandaged.

"Me? I am fine enough," he replied. "What is the status of my car?"

"It's sitting in the garage," the salesman explained. "We haven't started the work on it yet as we are waiting for the delivery of the parts. If you want, you can come and see your car."

"Yeah, I'll do that." He replied and the salesman led him to the garage. Once he was standing before the Silvia, the salesman explained what parts had been damaged, which ones could be repaired and which ones must be replaced. Iketani sighed thinking of how much it would cost him and the other guy left him alone with his car. Only then the racer let a tear roll down his cheek, showing all the anger he felt at himself for damaging his beloved car.

'_You got hurt because of my stupidity…'_ he thought as he kneeled down and rested his hand on the mangled front bumper. '_Sorry S13, please forgive me. Get fixed up and come back to me so we can go driving together again…' _he thought dejectedly. Maybe it was the fact that his head wasn't as normal as before, but he could've sworn the car managed to smile weakly back at him.

* * *

Noticing that the Eight-Six was about to go into reserve, Bunta decided to take his car to his best friend's shop for a refuel. As he drove into the station in his trademark half drift, he saw Yuuichi closing down for the day. The other guy was surprised to see him at this time of the night.

"What? But we're closed!" Yuuichi exclaimed.

"Is that the greeting I get as a customer?" Bunta shot back at him. "Don't be so stingy and fill the car up with high octane." He told him, making his friend think why he would need high octane for the car.

"One more thing, Yuuichi…" The older Fujiwara said as he stepped out of the car to open the fuel cap. "You shouldn't fill the Iketani brat's head with rumors. Sheesh," he said while lighting up a cigarette for himself and saw his pal fill up his car. "He came to my shop riding on a scooter with his head bandaged. It's sad that he had an accident…"

"If you feel so sorry for him," Yuuichi replied while closing the car's fuel cap, "Why don't you race in his place? He's a good kid."

"Nah," Bunta replied shaking his head. "It would be like an adult meddling with the fight of two brats. That's not how I do things," he muttered as he took a puff of his cigarette.

"But you are just a big kid anyway aren't you?" Yuuichi teased back. "I know you want to race!" he told his friend, but he just gave a dismissing wave with his hand. "So, how about sending a brat to a brat's fight?" Yuuichi suggested.

"You mean Takumi?"

"Yeah," the gas station owner confirmed. "He's become pretty skilled right?"

"Yeah," the tofu shop owner replied. "But not enough to beat me," he said, which made Yuuichi repress a snigger. If his best friend wasn't any more predictable, he'd shave his head. "But, he isn't the type to accept if someone tells him to go and do something. I'll need a plan to force him into accepting that race." Bunta replied and got into the car. Saying goodbye, he went back to the shop to prepare the tofu for the next delivery.

* * *

Bunta was standing in the doorway, reading the newspaper while smoking. It was about time for Takumi to go to school and he stopped near his father, wanting to ask something.

"Umm dad," Takumi started. "Can I borrow the car on Sunday?"

"Nope," Bunta replied, sensing this was his chance to get his plan into action. This made Takumi look a tad dejected.

"Why? I do all the deliveries properly!" He complained, showing a bit of desperation in his voice which made the older man look at his son. And then he understood why his kid might need the car for on a sunny Sunday.

"Aha, it's a girl!" Bunta teased, which made Takumi blush a bit confirming his suspicions. "Finally getting interested in the opposite sex, huh?" he asked amusedly. He had to admit that he got a kick out of making his son feel embarrassed.

"Dad!" Takumi exclaimed, feeling hot on his cheeks. "Does it really matter? Just lend me the car, it is an old and a crappy car anyway!" he shouted, but it only made Bunta feel a bit more amused. "Fine, I'll take it without asking!?" he retorted and went to put on his shoes.

"I'll put the car keys on a string around my neck then," Bunta replied smirking. "What will you do then, kid?"

"That's not fair!"

"If you want it so badly, I will give it to you." The older man continued and noticed the smile on Takumi's face. "But only on one condition."

"What's that?" Takumi asked.

"You will take the car and beat the pants off that Redsuns kid on Akina's downhill this Saturday night!" He told him, shaking the car keys in front of his son as if he were throwing bait to a fish. Takumi just couldn't believe what his father was asking of him. Participate in an illegal street race? Then again, the crazy old man had made him drive the car way before he was of legal age so he probably didn't care about legality.

"I'll even give you a full tank of gas," Bunta added, making it more enticing for Takumi to accept the deal as he was low on cash. But being the stubborn kid he was, he refused to accept right away.

"No, I'll need some time to mull it over," he replied and went off.

* * *

Takahashi Residence, Maebashi

Ryosuke Takahashi was sitting at his desk on his swiveling leather chair, thinking about everything his younger brother had told him about the Eight-Six. Just like his brother, he was surprised to see that level of skill at Akina.

"Aniki, can I come in?" Keisuke asked, knocking at the door.

"Aa. Come in," the future doctor replied without seeing the door.

"So Keisuke," Ryosuke started. "Could you think a bit and explain to me theoretically why the car was so fast?" He asked, although knowing well that his brother was a bit weak when it came to explaining things.

"Jeez Aniki, you know well I am not good at that sorta thing," Keisuke replied, making himself comfortable on his brother's bed. "Unlike you. You can figure out everything we need to know about a driver just by looking at him drive through a right and left corner. Hell, you can even find out the power output and the modifications done to it by just listening to the car at high revs and while drifting. You are monster when it comes to analysis, you know that?"

"We've had this conversation many times already Keisuke," the older brother said, feeling a bit annoyed. "You can be very fast even without thinking. Apply theory to that and you'd be an ideal driver, Keisuke."

"Yeah, whatever. You have to figure out the 86 by yourself…" Keisuke replied, feeling a bit annoyed too.

"Yeah, I might go to watch tomorrow's exchange," Ryosuke replied. "The driver of that 86 interests me. He might show up tomorrow in place of their leader." He said and went out of his room, followed by his younger brother.

* * *

The next day, Iketani went to Takumi's home again to beg his father to race. He parked his scooter by the side of the road and went into the shop. And then he saw the man he needed to speak to.

"Atsuage, please! You have some good fried tofu here," Iketani told the older man, hoping the positive comment about his tofu might help to change his mind.

"You again, you are quite persistent…" Bunta told the younger guy. "I might come to Mt. Akina tonight." He said, making Iketani very excited and happy.

"REALLY!" Iketani exclaimed with happiness, forgetting about his neck brace. It caused him a lot of pain, so he crouched down and winced, making Bunta worry about the poor guy.

"Hey!" Bunta called out. "Don't die on me!" he replied giving the tofu to the young man. "I can't say for sure, it is a 50-50 chance. When does it start?" he enquired.

"The exchange starts at 8 pm but the time attack doesn't till it is 10'o clock."

"Ten o' clock it is then. If the 86 doesn't show up by then, give up on me and deal with it on your own!" Bunta replied.

"I knew you wouldn't give up on me Fujiwara-san!" Iketani exclaimed, keeping his hand firmly on the counter. He was way too ecstatic now to care about manners.

"I told you it is just 50%." Bunta replied calmly.

"No," Iketani said firmly. "Deny it all you want, but you will definitely come. I will be waiting on Akina's peak, 10 pm." He said and exited the shop. Then he got on his scooter and went away.

In the meantime, Takumi was returning from the school with his friend Itsuki. He had finally decided to accept his Dad's offer and race that yellow RX-7 down Akina. Suddenly reminded of the trip he was going to make on Sunday, he looked up at the sky.

"Is it going to be sunny tomorrow too?" He asked his friend.

"Why? Are you going out tomorrow?" Itsuki asked. "There hasn't been a shred of a dark cloud in the sky, so I don't see why it is going to rain tomorrow…"

"Well, I am going to the beach." Takumi answered Itsuki's question, leaving him dumbstruck.

"WHAT!?" Itsuki exclaimed which made the passersby look at him as if the kid had lost his mental health. "You are going to the beach without telling me? What sorta friend are you?" He yelled, shaking his pal by the collar.

"Sorry," Takumi apologized. "The way things turned out, I couldn't tell ya. Next time, okay?"

"Going with a girl?" Itsuki asked half-jokingly. Takumi nodded which made Itsuki even more baffled. How the hell did that air-head manage to get a girlfriend before he did?

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend!" He exclaimed yet again. "Is it someone I know? Does she have big boobs? Is she cute?" He started firing questions to his best pal like a machine gun.

"Well I can't say much," Takumi said with a small smile. "But she's rather cute though." He replied and went on walking, leaving his friend to shake his head in disbelief.

That night, while Yuuichi was closing down he saw a convoy of numerous sports cars heading up Mount Akina, leaving the middle aged man to realize that today was the day of exchange between Iketani's team and team led by Takahashi Ryosuke, the fastest racer of the Gunma prefecture.

'_Seeing all these cars going to Akina makes my blood stir…' _He thought, looking at the cars disappearing into the distance. '_Maybe I should sneak off to see that race. The battle between the Akagi's fastest RX-7 and an unknown downhill specialist from Akina is worth seeing. However I know the outcome,' _he thought smirking as he lit up a cigarette. '_After all, Takumi's Hachi-roku is Bunta's Hachi-roku!'_

* * *

Quite a large crowd had gathered at Akina, which was usual considering that Gunma's most famous racers would be arriving there. While the ones standing at the five consecutive hairpins were discussing about how rich the Takahashis were. Just then they heard the sound of finely tuned rotaries closing in; the Redsuns had finally arrived.

Once they reached the summit, they saw Kenji's 180SX not the Eight-Six the brothers were expecting. They got out of their cars and signaled Fumihiro Hiroshi to do the talking as they were quite disinterested with the SpeedStars. After all, they were 'small fries' as Keisuke put it.

"We shall start the time attack at ten as we agreed upon before," Hiroshi told the SpeedStars politely. "We shall place people at every blind corner who will signal the drivers by waving their hands to notify them of oncoming traffic so that they can push it to the limit. We shall co-ordinate the start and finish by using two cell-phones."

"Sou ka," Iketani said. "We don't have any problems with that." Judging by the way the Redsuns handled the time attack; they seemed to be quite experienced. "Aniki, the Trueno isn't here yet..." Keisuke whispered to his brother behind Fumihiro's back. "Just wait," Ryosuke replied.

"Alright then. Let's drive freely till the time trial, okay?" He said, and all the Redsuns got into their cars to keep the crowds entertained till the time attack. Needless to say, the crowd was enthralled by the performance but they knew very well they hadn't seen the real thing yet: The Takahashi Brothers.

The duo in their FC and FD approached a left hairpin at a dangerously high speed, making the crowd fear for their bodily integrity. But they needn't worry, for the brothers knew very well what they were doing. The FD in the lead used weight shifting to initiate the drift, with FC going into the corner exactly parallel to the newer car separated by just a few centimetres, executing their trademark parallel drift.

"Whoa! They are crazy!" One of the fans shouted with the rest agreeing in unison. But they didn't know that this was just mere play for Ryosuke and Keisuke, for their real target was Akina's ghost and this was just for kicks.

* * *

The person holding Ryosuke's interest was sitting behind the wheel of the Trueno. He switched on the headlights and noticed his dad wasn't giving him a cup of water today.

"You don't need a cup today, as you aren't carrying tofu." His father replied taking a puff of his cigarette which made Takumi worry about his father's health. "Just play and have fun."

"Play is supposed to be more fun than this, you know that?" Takumi complained.

"Trust me, it'll be fun. Or are you set on losing to that brat?" Bunta challenged him.

"No, but..."

"Just drive like you usually do and you won't lose." Bunta cut him off. "From what I heard, he seems to be a spoiled brat..."

"I know, and in 2-3 years I'll be better than you at driving," Takumi replied.

"You are ten years too early to say that, kid." Bunta said smirking at him. "Now off you go."

Takumi nodded and raised his windows. Putting the car into first gear, he mouthed a good bye and took off rather fast as he had to make it up there by ten. Bunta would have stood there for a bit more, but just then he heard the phone ring.

"Oh well," Bunta muttered and went inside to pick up the phone.

"Fujiwara Tofu-ten."

"Hello, this is Takeuchi Itsuki and I am a friend of Takumi, is he home?" The voice on the other end asked.

"No, he drove off just now."

"Ah, I see. Good Night" Itsuki muttered and kept the receiver back on its cradle. "Damn you Takumi!" He muttered and sat on his scooter, realizing that there was no way he's make it in time if he waited for Takumi.

* * *

Iketani was seeing the FD get its front end raised upon jacks to get its tires replaced.

"What are they doing?" He asked a teammate of his.

"Replacing the tires, they seem to have got a lot of them in a spare van." he replied shrugging. "Looks like Takahashi Keisuke is racing." All this made Iketani realise how serious the RedSuns were about racing.

"The Eight-Six isn't here yet, bro." Keisuke told Ryosuke, tapping with his foot impatiently. "Since the others are turtles, I want to race that Eight Six. I won't stop till I shame his ass on the downhill!" But Ryosuke kept quiet, thinking that arriving late was a tactic to rile them up.

Sooner than they knew, it was nearly ten pm leaving Koichiro with no choice but to let Kenji and his 180 to handle the downhill. "Kenji," the injured racer said looking at his friend. "It is up to you now." The poor guy nodded nervously and both the opponents went to their respective cars to get them lined up at the starting line.

"Huh?" Keisuke muttered seeing the 180 and his driver. "He looks like he's going to puke on the wheel any moment." He then revved his engine to its limit signalling Fumihiro's that he was ready. Seeing him, a jittery Kenji too revved his SR20DET. Even with the very encouraging words of his leader, he was far from being confident.

"Okay, five seconds to go!" Fumihiro shouted raising his hands. But just then he heard chatter from his radio.

"We've got oncoming traffic," someone said, perking up the Takahashis' interest. "Oi Fumihiro!" Keisuke called the older man. "Gimme that," he said snatching the radio. "Now describe the car in detail to me. What model and color it is?"

"Ah K-Keisuke-san," the guy stuttered. "Let me think for a bit. Why are y'all interested so much in that car anyway?" Then the radio went quiet for a few moments and he got the answer : "It was a white car with retractable headlights, a Panda Trueno AE86." Hearing that, all Speedstars let out a huge sigh of relief and Kenji withdrew his car, making space for the soon arriving Toyota.

"It has finally arrived. I haven't felt this excited in such a long time!" Keisuke thought with a smile, with his hands itching to make the old car eat his dust.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Seeing that Keisuke wasn't going to continue, Fumihiro asked the blonde, "So what do I do? Start the countdown?"

"No. Wait for the Eight-Six," Keisuke told him impatiently. "This Nissan is not my opponent, right?" he added, now looking at Iketani.

"Yeah, that's right," Iketani agreed, feeling a lot happier than before. Then, he turned around and asked Kenji to take his car away from the line. The poor guy didn't need to be asked twice.

"I am saved," He told his leader with a relieved expression on his face slowly becoming teary-eyed, just like his fellow teammates. Iketani now didn't care if they won or lost to the younger Takahashi and his team. Fujiwara Bunta was coming to protect the pride of Akina, and that was enough for him. By now, the crowd and other street racing teams which had gathered there knew that the race had been stopped due to the arrival of an 86 and were wondering who the driver was and what the commotion was about.

Takumi, now behind the wheel of his trusty Toyota was also thinking the same thing as he drove up Akina's pass. He simply didn't understand what was the point in street racing and why many people of his age were excited about it. 'Oh well,' he thought as he cleared a corner passing the scrutinizing eyes of the leader of Myogi Night Kids, Nakazato Takeshi.

Nakazato couldn't exactly what he felt as he saw the 86 drove away, but his street racing instincts told him that the Toyota's driver was by no means slow. He had this theory of a driver's aura, the aura indicating the skill of the driver and familiarity of his vehicle. He didn't know who the driver was, but he was damn sure the guy was very fast, probably on the level of Takahashi Ryosuke.

Just like Nakazato, no one at the summit except Iketani's team knew who the driver was. Keisuke and Ryosuke were very curious; the latter was interested in the AE86's tuning and the former was interested in the driver. Just then, the 86 soon appeared onto the short straight at the top of Akina making the crowd wonder why the race was put on hold for such an old car.

"GUYS, IT'S HERE!" Iketani shouted to get the attention of his teammates. "Open up the road and guide the driver to the starting line!" he ordered them and they obeyed obediently. The Toyota slowed down and did a three point turn and finally stopped beside the FD. Everyone perked up to see who the driver was as he slowly opened the door and put his leg outside, and he was the last guy everyone expected to see there.

"Takumi!?" Iketani asked disbelievingly seeing the eighteen year old guy approaching them.

"Yeah, I'm here because my pop told me to come here sempai," Takumi said, ignoring the inquisitive stares he was getting from nearly everybody present there.

"Your father told you to come here!? There's no point in having the car without your old man!" Iketani exclaimed, making Takumi feel out of place. As an afterthought, he added: "Did he tell you something else?"

"Yeah," Takumi said nodding. "He told me to beat a car called RX-7 on Akina's downhill, nothing else."

"Can you win?" the older man asked Takumi.

"I don't know," Takumi replied honestly. "But I did beat him once before though," he added making everyone gasp. Just then, Itsuki ran towards Takumi and smacked him hard on the head.

"You bastard!" Itsuki admonished his friend who was rubbing the spot where he had got smacked. "How many times do you want to show that you are an idiot!? Not only you are late, you show up and get in the way! I'm so ashamed of you! Get your car out of the way so they can start the time attack!" he shouted at Takumi, his voice trembling with fury.

"Iketani-sempai!" He then turned towards their work colleague. "This guy's a moron, he doesn't understand a thing! Please forgive him!" He bowed and apologized to him. By now the crowd had got interested and came towards the SpeedStars and watched what happened next.

"Wait a minute, Itsuki," Takumi said coolly. "You are overreacting…"

"SHUT UP!" Itsuki cut him off. "STOP BLABBERING AND GET YOUR CAR OUTTA THE WAY! IF YOU AREN'T WILLING TO DO IT, I'LL GLADLY DO IT FOR YOU!" He then started to walk towards the Trueno but Iketani stopped him.

"Wait a minute," Iketani ordered Itsuki. "Now Takumi, do you deliver tofu to Akina Lake just like your father?" The SpeedStars leader now asked Takumi and he nodded.

"Yep, it is just me now. I'm doing the deliveries for the last five years," Takumi replied, making Itsuki think what does tofu deliveries have to do with street racing.

"I see," Iketani said with a small smile on his face. "Then, I'll leave the downhill to you."

"WHAT!?" Itsuki exclaimed. "If you let this amateur attack Akina's downhill, he'll crash and burn for sure!"

"Alright Itsuki, now go and watch from the sidelines, he won't crash," Iketani assured Takumi's best friend before whisking him off to the crowd. He then turned to face Keisuke and said, "Sorry for making you wait."

"Yeah whatever," Keisuke said dismissingly and looked at Takumi. He didn't believe that a kid who had just got his license was able to perform such an advance manoeuvre. Nevertheless, he asked:

"You sure are young. What's your name?"

"Fujiwara Takumi," came the reply in a calm monotone voice.

"I am Takahashi Keisuke," the blond introduced himself. "And I'll remember that."

"So," Fumihiro approached Keisuke seeing that the situation had cooled down, "Shall I start the countdown?" Both drivers nodded and went to sit in their cars and get ready for the race.

"Ten seconds to go!" Fumihiro shouted with raised hands after positioning himself in front of the Mazda and the Toyota. "Start your engines!" Once the drivers did that, Fumihiro started the countdown:

"Ju, Kyu, Hachi, Nana, Roku , Go, Yon, San, Ni, Ichi, GO!"

Both drivers slammed the gas pedal as far as it could go, making their cars go forward with a staggering speed which nearly made Fumihiro fall onto his butt. As everyone anticipated, the FD took the lead and started to increase the lead it had on the 86. Everyone was amazed at the FD's power and was convinced that the match would be over a lot sooner than they anticipated.

'I don't like pulling away using the straights, but this is a time attack. I won't see you in the mirror again!" Keisuke declared mentally as he slowed down for the corner and cleared as fast as he could while taking a conservative line.

Takumi, who was taking it easy and resting his right hand on the window sill tensed up as the first corner of Akina showed up. Using his special skill of ultra-rapid downshifting, he utilized the weight shifting technique and drifted into the corner at a staggering speed of hundred and thirty kilometers per hour while being just a few centimeters away from the guardrail, and cleared the corner a whole lot faster than Keisuke did, leaving the crowd amazed at his fearlessness.

Satisfied with his cornering, Keisuke looked at his rearview mirror to see by how much the gap had increased. But to his amazement and horror the set of headlights were slowly approaching closer, decreasing the gap.

The crowd at the summit were abuzz with excitement hearing the guys at the corners report the 86's amazing cornering, which left Itsuki stunned and he wondered if Takumi was really driving the car or if he had hid his father in the car all along.

"Is it true that Takumi's old man was a great racer, Iketani-sempai? I've seen him a few times, but he seemed like any other tofu vendor to me." Itsuki asked the leader of the SpeedStars.

"Well, you can't judge people by their appearances. Apparently, he was a JTCC racer during the seventies as well as a legendary street racer. Even Boss confirmed that he's the man to beat on Akina's downhill right now. If he has confidence in Takumi, I'm sure he is a good racer," Iketani explained. "Besides, if anyone of us raced we'd lose for sure so it's not like we had a choice."

"Anyway," Iketani continued, "Takahashi Keisuke has already lost to Takumi once on the downhill. He told me that when he came to our gas station last week. Takumi confirmed that too," he said making the SpeedStars and Itsuki snort with disbelief. After all, the guy didn't even know that the car he drove was an AE86!

Ryosuke was leaning against the wall doing some serious thinking.' Judging from the starting dash, the 86 must make 150 HP at most. The shifting points were early and the cars were the same till second gear due to a rally style transmission in the 86. But that's no reason for Keisuke to lose. So the monster isn't the car, but the driver?'

Meanwhile, the subject of the SpeedStars' and Ryosuke's thoughts was clearing the corners one by one at such a high speed that crowd feared for his bodily integrity. The speed at which he entered the corner while sliding its rear out was simply amazing and just imagining driving like that made the crowd shiver. Using those suicidal cornering speeds, the 86 was now right on the Mazda's bumper which made Keisuke freak out.

Just as they cleared one of the many right hairpins of Akina's corners, Takumi started thing of how to overtake the yellow Mazda. The Mazda was easily the faster among the two, so overtaking it on the straights was out of the question, which left Takumi with only one option: the corners. Sooner than expected, they passed the midpoint of the course.

At Akina's summit…

"Come in, come in, this is the first midpoint report from the straight passing by the skating rink!" Fumihiro's radio blared. "Do you read me?"

"Yes," Fumihiro relied back. "This is the start line. What's up?"

"This is incredible!" The guy on the other end of the line said excitedly. "Both of them just passed by and Keisuke is being pushed! The Eight-Six is unbelievably fast! I just don't get it!" he said making Ryosuke frown and the SpeedStars do a double take. "I've never seen anyone push Keisuke's FD that close in the corners. Keisuke pulled away on the straight but beyond here, it's just corners and more corners. He might be in trouble. End of report!" Saying this, the guy disconnected.

"Did you hear that, Ryosuke?" Fumihiro asked the older Takahashi.

"I made a miscalculation," Ryosuke admitted in a low voice thinking that he or anyone else for that matter never expected a driver of this caliber on Mount Akina.

Just as the guy at the midpoint had predicted, Keisuke was in trouble. Sure, he might use the full power of the twin turbo 13B-REW and go faster than the naturally aspirated 4A-GE equipped Toyota, but in the corners he was losing out. Unlike him, Takumi could push it at the corner entry because he was driving a lightweight NA car using an entry stressing kamikaze-like technique.

Now that Takumi had seen a lot of Keisuke's driving, he had to admit that Keisuke was good. When it finally dawned upon him that Keisuke was much slower than he was at cornering, he decided to stage his first and only attack at the infamous five continuous hairpins.

At the summit, Ryosuke was getting more and more tense seeing his little brother get into trouble. He took the radio from Fumihiro's hand and tuned into the second midpoint's frequency.

"This is the peak. Second midpoint, do you read me?" Ryosuke asked. "Listen, they should be approaching you soon. Report the situation as carefully as you can, okay?" he requested, as he needed all the data he could get on the Toyota's driver to analyze his pros and cons.

"Ok, Ryosuke-san," the man on the other end agreed. "Oh wait, they should be here soon! We can hear them already! They are about to enter the five hairpins!" he told the RedSuns' leader.

Keisuke was now feeling the pressure. No matter how hard he tried, the Toyota stuck on to his bumper like a burr mainly due to the fact that every straight in Akina ended with a hairpin corner. Knowing well that being pushed in the corners by a weaker car was the ultimate humiliation a street racer could face, Keisuke would rather die than admitting that Takumi's technique was far better than his. He wondered if the secondary turbo of his 13B gave up or something. By the time they cleared a medium left right after the skating rink straight, they were visible to the second midpoint.

"This is the second midpoint! They're here and the gap is way shorter than we expected!" The guy told Ryosuke over the radio and the next moment, they heard only the high pitched engine noise of the two cars approaching. "The 86's braking drift is just perfect! Keisuke is losing in the entry! He's good at exiting," the guy said and went mute for a moment. "OOH!" he started again, "He's good at exiting and he's almost touching the guardrail! Does he have a psychotic death wish or something!?"

"Now they are entering the second hairpin! There's no gap left! Wait wait wait… they exited equally!" The guy explained excitedly. "They are approaching the third! The FD's taking the outside lane and the Eight-Six, what the… the guy's taking in the inside lane and not slowing down at all! He's now level with Keisuke! " The guy said with a slightly shaking voice.

"What the fuck is he thinking?" Keisuke exclaimed furiously as he braked for the hairpin. "Did he come to commit suicide!? That is way too much speed for this corner!" he shouted wondering whether the 86's brakes had failed or not. But they hadn't failed at all.

Takumi then proceeded to use his infamous mizo-otoshi technique. He dropped the inside wheels of the Toyota into the gutter and floored the throttle. Since the gutter acted against the centrifugal force, it was possible for Takumi to clear the corner at a speed which would be impossible for the grip threshold of any tire. The crowd there was speechless as the 86 overtook the FD and drove away as if nothing had happened. It gave goose bumps to everyone who had witnessed it, but Nakazato had understood what the 86 did.

All Ryosuke heard was the screams of the people at the midpoint.

"Stop screaming and tell us what happened!" Fumihiro ordered the poor guy who was very shocked. "Did he crash?"

"No," The guy said once he found his voice back. "Keisuke was passed."

"Keisuke was passed!?" Fumihiro exclaimed, making everyone including Ryosuke widen their eyes. "Explain clearly! What happened?" Fumihiro prodded the man for more information.

"I wish I could," The guy said sadly. "But even we who were watching don't understand what happened. The people standing over here are just as clueless as we are," he commented, making Nakazato snort. He had clearly seen the 86 drop its wheels into the gutter as it took the inside. Thinking that the race was decided, he went back to his pitch black Skyline GT-R V-spec II.

"Takeshi-san, you are leaving already?" One of his fellow teammates asked. "We still have the uphill."

"I don't care." Nakazato replied shrugging. "Not after being shown something that great. The RedSuns will obviously win the uphill, thus making it a draw. I don't care about the uphill; after all if you aren't fast downhill, you are no real touge street racer. As far as I am concerned, the RedSuns have lost today's exchange." He told them and took off as fast as the R32's RB26 could take him.

By now, Keisuke had given up on the race and the 86 crossed the finish line with a gap of seven seconds. Not bothering to wait, he just drove off. Once the guys at the finish line reported it to the summit, everyone including the SpeedStars and Ryosuke were shocked: The Akagi RedSuns had just suffered its first loss!

"Seven seconds, he beat him clearly…" Ryosuke muttered feeling dismayed. In a stark contrast to the RedSuns' mood, the SpeedStars were dancing: some were crying, some were laughing and some were doing both.

"This is just great!" Iketani exclaimed as he punched his fist into the air not giving a toss about his injuries. Iketani and Kenji had decided that Takumi would become their tutor from now on.

"He did it!" Kenji shouted happily. "Come on Iketani, don't cry!"

"I know, I just can't help it," Iketani told his best friend who nodded in understanding because he too was feeling like crying. Meanwhile the RedSuns were thinking about how to contain this damage.

"Losing with these big galleries hurts," Fumihiro, the 'unofficial PR officer' said with a frown on his face. "By tomorrow, our defeat to an 86 will be well known all over Gunma."

"That's what we get for gathering the galleries to show off. As you sow so shall you reap, I guess," Ryosuke said in a low voice. "We'll get our revenge soon, with my FC!" he declared, to the rest of the RedSuns and then after a few minutes slowly drove off the summit.


End file.
